Month: January 2011

It’s a kit for a doll’s house doll’s doll, and, when it’s finished, the doll stands just an inch and three quarters high.

I took some photos as I made it (sorry the quality is a bit poor – I was too keen on making the doll to check to see if the photos were coming out OK).

This is what you get in the kit – a 12 page booklet, a jointed porcelain doll, and several bags of tiny bits of stuff!This gives you an idea of how tiny the doll is. Yup. Weeny!The doll with her underwear made, her shoes on, and her swagged skirt assembledAn hour or so later, and I’d made her panelled coat, and glued the ‘fur’ trim around the edgesHer sleeves were glued on next, then the cape, and short lengths of viscose ringlets for her hair (well, most of her hair – at this point, she looked more like a judge than a doll)She looked much more attractive once I’d cut very short lengths of the viscose ringlets and ‘filled in’ the top of her head!The finished doll, complete with her pleated bonnet, standing next to my latest needlepoint sampler…and this is how she looks from the back

I really enjoyed making this little doll. The instructions looked a bit daunting at first, as they’re so long, but really that’s better, beacuse it means every stage is described in detail, so you can’t very easily go wrong (unless you glue her head to your thumb, which I did at one point). I altered a couple of things (I left the ‘bustle bow’ off the back, for instance, and the cream bow that’s supposed to go under her chin – that was because I’d stuck the cape on a bit high, so there wasn’t room left to add it, really). The components were all labelled clearly in tiny plastic bags.

The kit was a limited edition Christmas doll by Sandra Morris of Tower House Dolls – she’s still got some for sale on her site, as well as lots of others, including bride dolls. You can buy them as kits, or ready made. I’m very tempted to get some more for the nursery in my doll’s house, now …..

An Arts and Crafts style doll's house sampler, which measures just over two inches wide. It's stitched on 32 count evenweave fabric.

The saying on the sampler is ‘Love is Enough’ – a phrase made popular by William Morris, the Arts and Crafts designer of interior furnishings who found fame at the end of the Victorian era.

It’s featured in the latest edition of Dolls House World magazine (the February issue, number 221, which is on sale during January 2011). It is the second in a series of sampler designs that I am doing for the magazine over the next few months. If you get yourself a copy, you can stitch the design from the colour block chart included in the magazine. You’ll need a piece of 32 count evenweave fabric, a size 26 tapestry needle, and some Anchor stranded cotton. If you prefer to buy the full kit from me (which includes a stained and varnished wooden picture frame, to mount the sampler in), then you can take advantage of the special offer in the magazine to get 25% off the usual kit price. Just quote the Discount Offer Code listed in the magazine when you buy online from my website, and you can buy the sampler kit for £6 instead of £7.95. If you choose to buy the sampler kit this month, then you can take advantage of the fact that I have a January Sale on at the moment, where everything is reduced – including this new sampler. So, with the magazine code as well, you can benefit from a double discount!